Star Wars Celebration VI *Coverage*

Welcome to Star Wars Celebration VI! Stay tuned to this forum for extensive SWCVI coverage from the show floor.

Today the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida was open for autograph ticket pick up. From what we saw the vendor floor was set up and ready to go for tomorrow. Those doors were heavily guarded so we just got a few shots out in the lobby areas.

Not much has changed in the lobby this year. We'll find out tomorrow what the vendors, the fans, Lucasfilm and Reed Pop have in store!

I think Celebration may have found it's home here in sunny Florida. The convention center seems familiar like coming back from a long journey. We've heard talk from Steve Sansweet, that the Orlando site is the biggest and most equipped to handle this event. We'll see if they take it on the road or stay right here.

Bare with me, guys.... My hotel seems to be having some WiFi issues tonight, so I send this message through mobile network. Stay tuned for some coverage of the Hasbro booth, and some unofficial words from Hasbro reps as distribution and lack of new products are discussed. Lots of photos from all over the show will be coming soon, as well as details of select panels the staff has attended!!!

I appologise for the long delay in getting this panel posted! I had some internet issues at the show. This is the reason severl of our members are here. It's the Celebration VI HASBRO Panel!

There is a link to the slideshow at the bottom of the page. Please check out the photos from the presentation!

There is not a lot of new information, but they did share some reveals.

First up! After two and a half years and over 100 figures, VINTAGE COLLECTION to take a hiatus! This is just refering to the Single Carded figures. There will be more details on this later in the report.

Second: DRIOD FACTORY will return to store pegs. The "Legacy Collection" will be back for the 2013 line. This is the same format as before. Hasbro has announced 30 figures for 2013. These will include Build a Droid parts, and each wave will complete one or two droids. With only 30 figures for 2013, I wonder how many repacks or re paints we will see, and if it will be worth buying them at 10.00 each.

Class II Vehicles have undergone a MAJOR CHANGE:

According to Hasbro, producing the Class II vehicles we have seen for the last few years will mean increasing costs at retail AGAIN. As we all remember, these started at 19.99, then went to 24.99 and up again to 29.99. To bring the cost back down to the 19.99 mark, All new tools have been created. What this means for collectors is a smaller scale vehicle with WAY less detail, and functionality. These are primarily hollowed out cores of plastic with a canopy that opens.

The Jango Fett Slave 1 has a small cockpit that opens. You can put ONE figure in it. It does not include any opening side doors, but does have a small firing missle. I have seen the test samples, and I am not impressed. They are way too small, have virtually no play value other than being able to put a figure in them, and they feel very cheap. The Slave 1 is litterally two pieces of plastic. They will come unassembled, and you snap the two halves together when you take it out of the box. This thing feels more like the Vinyl bank from a few years ago, and lees like an actual Star Wars Toy. The team seems very excited about these, but I hope they perform the way they hope. This is mainly a target pricepoint for parents to still buy their kids toys for 20.00. I have a feeling most collectors will be avoiding these.

Hasbro said that this DOES NOT mean the end of the regular class II vehicles. They plan to continue them, but only as more of an exclusive or special release. We may see one or two in Vintage style later next year.

Clone Wars: There are indeed a few new figures for 2013. A few were shown in the images, but not too much information was revealed. Some of the new figures do look great.

Clone Wars Class I vehicles: There will be a new format for the Class I vehicles. These will sort of take the place of the battlepacks. Each vehicle will now be packed with a driver or pilot, and also a foe of that figure. This will now give the cunsumer a small scale vehicle and two figures for around the same price as the battlepacks. They showed a new Yoda Starfighter, and a couple other vehicles. Pictures are in the link below.

Speaking of Battlepacks: Target will have one last pack. The Return of Darth Maul! Several images are already online, and this announcement is not really new. There is a Robo Legs Maul, Armor wearing Savage, and a Night Sister figure. The Savage is a direct repack, but for those of us who could never find this single carded, we get it again plus two all new figures!

Earlier, I mentioned that the Vintage Collection was going away. As I said, this is only the single carded figure format. The Vintage Collection will continue in a few different ways. Hasbro plans to keep doing Vintage as follows:

K-Mart had picked up a few exclusives, all in Vintage Style packaging. First up is the Vintage Box ROTJ AT-ST. This is the same AT-ST we have seen twice so far. There have been some updated paint apps for the Endor setting, but it is the same toy.

Vintage style figure two packs: There are two of these hitting K-Mart stores soon, if not already. These will feature two clear plastic baggie figures. There is an AT-ST crew, featuring different heads and updated harness to better reflect what we saw in the movies. The next pack, is just AWESOME! There will be a two pack of Ewok Scouts. Do they have names? Probably. All the box said was Ewok Scouts. Seeing how K-Mart also has the exclusive AT-ST and the AT-ST crew, this seems to make a lot of sence. What DOES NOT make sence, is K-Mart getting exclusives!

Toys R Us:

Some really nice Vintage Collection pieces are coming to TRU. First up, to continue with the ROTJ Endor theme, TRU has the exclusive large scale AT-AT. This is the same one previously released, with some minor paint changes such as adding mud on the feet. The only other difference is the AT-AT driver has been given some lighter weight gloves, to reflect the warmer weather of Endor.

Vintage Collection Millennium Falcon:

This is the SAME EXACT falcon that we have seen before. No paint changes, no new deco, no new figures. If you already have the BMF, there is no need for this one. unless you REALLY REALLY want the original style Star Wars artwork on the box. Yet another TRU exclusive.

There are also two more 5 packs at TRU. Yet another 5 pack of Rebel pilots, with an all new sculpt of Porkins. I don't know if this is intentional, but if you look closely at the Porkins figure, the head resembles a very well known Star Wars collector!

The second 5 pack is the Ewok pack. This looks AWESOME! I'm a fan of the Ewok figures, and this 5 pack is great. It includes an updated version of Teeboo, with both hoods that he wore in the movie. Princess Kneesa is finally represented as well. Also with both realistic movie hood and the cartoon version.

With TRU stores still having so many of the current exclusives on the shelves, I really hope these do turn up in my area.

The last TRU exclusive shown was something we have heard about for the last 5 years or so.

An ALL NEW Speeder Bike!

This is a 100% new tooling. It has pegs on the foot pedals to prevent the scoout from falling off. This thing is full of new details, and comes with a clear stand to support the bike in action poses. There is only one thing I an not sure about, and that is how the figure "sits" on the bike. It seems a little odd to me, but that could just be how they put out the production sample.

For those of you, if any, who are interested in Fighter Pods:

they will continue. There will be a second series, as well as some new vehicles and features. I'm sorry.....

Finally, we come to the most shocking exclusive to date.

Brian's Toys has picked up their frist, and hopefully ONLY exclusive:

Jocasta Nu:

There is no secret about the fact that THIS was originally planned to be the Hasbro Celebration VI exclusive. When they decided not to have the store present at CVI, Brian's Toys took this on. Apparently, he had to accept quite a large quantity, and Hasbro does not think he will sell through them all. I would say that for 24.99 PLUS 10.00 shipping, Hasbro is probably right. Collectors have been crying for YEARS to get this figure. Well, here ya go. Buy it from Brian's Toys, because if you don't, it will probably be the last time Hasbro listens to collectors.

The figure it's self is actually quite well done. She has the ability to raise her fingers to her mouth, to shush those being too loud in the library. She comes with a bust of Dooku, and if you lift the head off the base, a hidden holocron is revealed. She also has a battle bag, complete with unlit light saber hilt.

In 2013, Hasbro plans to keep the Vintage Collection going with a release of the X-Wing in Vintage packaging. This will be the larger scale ship we have been getting for the last few years. When the panel opended up for the Q&A session, I went up with the following question:

You stated the Larger scale X-Wing would be the ship we get in the Vintage box in 2013. Back in 2010, we got the smaller scale X-Wing as a Target Exclusive. Would we be seeing the smaller, classic scale X-Wing in a Vintage box at all, to keep the scale the same?

Hasbro's answer was the following:

GOOD QUESTION! We never really gave it much thought. We try to release the best product for consumers that we can. We feel the larger scale X-Wing is a much better toy than the classic size. BUT if anyone would be willing to buy the smaller scale ship, it would not be out of the question. Based on a show of hands from the crowd, a little less than half present actually WOULD buy the smaller scale ship if it were re released in a Vintage style box!

That brings a wrap to the Hasbro Panel at Celebration VI! I do have additional photos from the booth, that I have not transfered over from my phone yet. PLEASE check back, as the photos will be added, and it will be posted when they are up! I hope you enjoyed the read, and it looks like quite a year for Hasbro in 2013!

_________________The Force will be with you, ALWAYS!

Last edited by DJ121 on Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:03 am; edited 1 time in total

I also heard that more developments are on their way about the new Star Wars live action show coming soon, but no idea if that was discussed at the Celebration.

I heard nothing about the live action show at CVI, not even rumors. That doesn't mean anything though. I only went to select panels. They may have mentioned it elsewhere. I'm sure that would be breaking news though all over the net.

I'll have more pictures and blogging coming soon. Working on it right now. I have posted some pics on my facebook pages also so check them out. Here's something to hold you over...

_________________

Last edited by Adam on Thu Aug 30, 2012 9:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

While I was on the convention floor, I did have an opportunity to stop at the Hasbro booth and speak one on one with not one, not two, but THREE different Hasbro team members.

The first was one of the lead designers. I talked to him about distribution. Although this was not his specific area, he did say that they are very well aware that things went very very wrong this year. The main reason is that although the Episode 1 wave had some very strong figures, many of them just simply did not sell as they had planned.

I spoke with Derryl DePreast, Vice President of Global Brand Management for Hasbro. He is the number one guy for Star Wars. I showed him a photo if my local Walmart, with only 9 Vintage figures on the pegs. This is what I have been looking at since Feburary. Derryl was very understanding, and took most of the blame for himself, as it was the team that released the wole wave dedicated to Ep 1. While he said most of the main characters are doing well, others have fallen flat. The movie re release overall did not drive up the demand and sales they were expecting. When asked if they planned any buy backs or if they were going to send the reps out to pull figures, the answer for this year was they just can't afford to do that. They pulled figures in 2010, and in 2011. With a new line change coming in the early part of 2013, they need to let the individual stores handle the markdowns.

Derryl is not only an employee of Hasbro, he is a huge Star Wars fan, and also a collector. He is out there in stores, trying to find multiples of new figures, as he also likes to troop build. Despite being the number one guy for Star Wars, he STILL has to go out and try to find figures at retail. He does not get them for free. He is just as disappionted as we are going into stores and not findiny anything new. He admits that the poor sales of the Ep 1 wave have really slowed down retail ordering and replenishment. He does promise that things will be much different in 2013. They are re working case assortments, and will make sure new product is readily available.

The third person I spoke with was about the new scale of the Class II vehicles. He was very excited, as he is the lead guy on the roll out of these. He explained that when they present new products to retailers, it is the stores that dictate and determine what size the boxes are, and how many they want to stock. If Toys R Us tells him that the box needs to be half an inch thinner, so they can get four on a shelf instead of three, they need to go back and re design the box. Sometimes, even re design the toy, to fit in a new, smaller box! I had asked him about a return of the classic size X-Wing fighter, in a Vintage box, to keep the same scale as we had from Target in 2010 for the TIE fighter. I explained to him that while the new larger size X-Wing is awesome, I would rather see a slight re tool in the cockpit of the classic size, and then in turn buy two of those, instead of only one of the larger size. While there are currently no plans, they did not rule it out, and if enough of us ask them for it, we might see it.

Seeing the Class II scale in person, I do not like these.... the new Slave 1 is litterally half the size of the classic toy. It feels like one of those vinyl banks, and less like a Star Wars ship.

I agree with you. The size of the Slave 1 is pathetic. I thought it was joke at first! I would never buy it. Why try to scale the Falcon and AT-AT to match the figures but then put out ships like this? The only thing Hasbro is doing this year is helping me spend my money elsewhere. There were literally only three or four figures I really wanted this year and I have not seen two of them yet. Maybe Christmas will bring some new results but I'm not holding my breath. I'm sure the stores will leave this EP 1 crap out through the holidays just to get rid of it.

I have been fortunate this year and have found a few actual vintage figures dealers here and there so I've been adding to that collection instead of buying at retail.

I hope Brian's Toys are enjoying all of their Jocasta Nu figures too. Thanks Hasbro, for a wonderful Celebration experience! I know that one is not really their fault. They couldn't believe that figure kept winning in the polls either. I remember Derryl laughing about making that figure a long time ago. When they start putting out some characters I actually want maybe I'll go back to the stores.

As you may have heard, there was a small sampling of Rancho Obi-Wan. This of course is the personal collection of Steve Sansweet. When Sansweet left Lucasfilm, he focused quite a lot of attention making the ranch a full non profit organization. More information about the organization or Steve Sansweet can be found at the www.ranchoobiwan.org website.

The 800 square foot booth housed over 300 items hand picked by Sansweet. They did some math, and figured out that 300 items makes up ONE HALF of ONE PERCENT of the number of items housed at the ranch!

He had some very cool one of a kind items, as well as some fan made projects. There was a lot of artwork, and some pre production items from the original Kenner Star Wars line. There are no real words to describe what was in that booth, but as the photos will show, there were some simply amazing pieces.

I was so imressed, that upon my exit for the second time, I picked up a chater membership for myself. I only got the low 40.00 membership, but at least I got a very nice welcome packet. Included was the Charter Member 2012 patch, and the Celebration CVI exclusive patch.

Here is a link to the photos, all uploaded to the wattosjunkshop page on photobucket!